>> this is al jazeera america, live from new york city. i'm tony harris with a look at your top stories. the train that derailed in new york city was traveling at 82 mph as it approached a bend in the track. authorities are trying to find out why the train was going so fast. the crash killed four people and injured more than 60. the obama administration said it's revamped healthcare website is running for smoothly. it claims the site is 90% fixed but users are still reporting problems getting coverage or in some cases just logging on to the site. pro tessers in thailand have taken over several government buildings as they try to force the country's prime minister to step down. a prominent oppositional leader has been telling followers to

storm buildings. three people have died in the protest over the last several days, vice president joe biden has arrived in asia for a week-long trip. the visit is expected to be dominated by dispute over islands in the chain seas. chip niece scare defense zone over islands claimed by both countries. biden will visit china and south korea. and those are the headlines at this hour. i'm tony harris in new york city. "real money" is up next with david shuster in for ali velshi. >> a retail report card on black friday weekend and cyber monday, what the numbers say about holiday sales, american consumers and the economy. plus a look at the health of the obama care exchange after two months, and why some states want

to blaze their own trail. and a blast of the 401k returns. the latest controversy. i'm david shuster, and this is real money. ♪ >> this is "real money," and you are the most important part of the show. so join our live conversation for the next half hour on twitter @aj real money. black friday has come and gone, but cyber monday is upon us. today is the day that men many americans take advantage of shopping dials online. sales dropped 3% from last year so a lot of economists are counting on the online surge to soften what normally would be considered an abysmal weekend. in terms of shear volume the shottener is not helpful.

an estimated 59 million americans did some christmas holiday shopping online over the weekend averaging purchases $178 each. that is up from last month's figures. now a projected jump in cyber monday sales of 18.7% compared to last year. but most americans do the majority of their holiday shopping the old fashion way by cramming into malls, department stores and other brick and mortar retail establishments. this year more shoppers came out but spent less than last year. a $16.05 drop from the same time last year. every year the thanksgiving weekend is an early gauge for holiday sales which generate 30% of revenues and 40% of profits for america's retailers. it's not that shoppers are shopping any less this year.

they're just more deals out there. and that may be under cutting retailers bottom line. it's questionable news for the economy, but it's good news for shoppers because it means that you're saving more money on holiday purchases. given retailers interest in keeping you in the stores. the deals will likely continue. today on twitter and facebook we've been asking you what item are you waiting to purchase until you find a better deal. margaret says all gift buying is delayed and only best price will make the cut. and james tweets, a new pc to work at home and telecommute with. tell us what you think by tweeting @ali velshi or @real money and leave us comment at facebook. companies like uncommon goods were blazing the trail for online boutique retailers. now they compete with amazon and walmart for your dollars but not by offering deep discounts. they try to carve out a market

niche by offering gifts you probably can't find elsewhere. cuff links made out of real money, and uncommon goods founded in 1999, david, thank you for being with us. what were the numbers this weekend how busy is it behind you. >> it is very, very busy. this will be our best day ever within the next hour we will probably set a record for most orders ever. we're seeing growth greater than what the national studies are showing. friday, black friday was a very good day for us, and the weekend was solid. and today is even stronger. >> all of your sales are online. what has been the key for you and your business? is it the quality of the products? what is the crucial factor? >> i think the crucial factor is having products that people want and they can't find anywhere

else. so we work 30% of what we sale is exclusive to us, and most of the other products are very limited distribution made by artists and independent designers. >> david, what has been the hottest sellers for your company? what are the hottest products? >> some of our best products actually involve drinking. so we've got musical wine glasses where you can play different notes depending on the amount of wine in the glass. we've got personiz personalizedy barrels, home making gin kick. we have art, blue prints made from various ball parks that do very well. and many other art-related products. >> tell us about the price point. are you able to charge more given that more people are shopping online? >> we don't look to charge more.

we look to charge a fair price, and make it on volume. but we're also not a discounter. we charge an every-day fair price. >> what is the best advice to consumers whether they're going to your site or any other, and they're looking for the best even though there is not a specific deal, how should they find out if they're getting their money's worth when they're shopping online? >> i think online is really no different than shopping in a store. you should comparison shop. most people start their shopping at amazon or google and comparison shop. and we expect our customers to do that. we offer the same price as amazon or anybody else for the products that we offer. and so i think just as in stores, if you're a consumer looking to get the best price, comparison shop. >> david, founder of uncommon goods, joining us from his warehouse right here in new york p thank you for being on the

program. we appreciate it. online sales are just a fraction of total retail sales during the holidays. the real action is still on the ground in the stores. that action this weekend was disappointing according to david strausser. he holds up janie mcgoffry scott where he follows target, walmart and best buy. and he said a poor holiday season. are we looking at a poor retail season? >> this year is different. we're laid in. it's a late thanksgiving this year. there are six fewer days between thanksgiving and christmas. there is going to be a lot of discounting and a lot of inventory that is going to be get pushed out between now and christmas. >> what are the particular products or sectors of the retail business where consumers can find some deals? >> the big deals were tvs,

ipads. talking about beads by dr. jam, those are the big opportunities. the apparel stuff will get knocked down as we get closer to the holiday. >> what does this say about the overall economy? i suppose you could say we're starting to see this weekend. >> if you talk to the retailers, the low and middle class has been very tough this year. we've been talking about the housing sector, home depot and lowes has done well. the rest of retail has really struggled. this is really just a continuation of what has been a very tough year. >> bus things have been tough does it behoove consumers to wait for even more discounts? >> i think so. i think as you get close for christmas if you play a game of chicken with retail you'll win this year. >> david strausser from janie

mayber yes scott. we appreciate it. >> a pleasure. >> the united states supreme court is staying out of state internet sales taxes. today the justices rejected an appeal regarding a new york law that requires companies to collect state taxes. amazon and overstock.com fought back and instead they brought broader federal legislation to collect from online retailers $1 million from south of state bills. the bill passed the united states senate but remained stuck in the house of representatives. that is even a bigger problem for the company given that there will not be any relief at the supreme court. two months and 400 software bugs later the obama administration said the self-imposed deadline for fixes healthcare.gov has been met for the most part. but it's the glitches that some

cannot see that has consumers worried. and trading your money in your 401k. some analysts believe it's a great way to increase your nest egg. others say its gambling with your golden years. it's "real money." stay tune.

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you. al jazeera america. take a new look at news. >> primetime news. >> welcome to al jazeera america. >> stories that impact the world, affect the nation and touch your life. >> i'm back. i'm not going anywhere this time. >> primetime news: weeknights at 8 and 11 eastern. only on al jazeera america. >> the obamacare website is now working a lot better than it was in october. and after technicians and code writers made more than 400 repairs to healthcare.gov , consumers can click through and compare healthcare options and costs. but by most measures healthcare.gov is still clunkier than what most would consider acceptable. and it's not clear whether the back end of the site where the data goes to insurance companies has been fixed. it's not clear how many signed up fo for coverage today before

noon. >> there is good news and bad news going on. when you compare it relative to october 1st and the way things were functioning or not functioning when a total of six people were able to sign up on the day that the healthcare website was launched. things are going relatively well. you mentioned compared to the retail world things not so good. but when you look at the error rate on october 1st and yes, things are getting better. they say they can get 800,000 people in one day on the site. i myself logged onto the site a couple of times today. the bad news i could not get on right away. the good news they put you on a queue. they ask you to wait a x number of minutes. or we'll e-mail you back when we're ready. you're talking about this new problem, a new phrase we learned in washington, a back end 834 problem. the back end being the insurance industry. the front end being the consumer who goes on the website to

enroll. 834 being the number of the form that is issued to insurance companies saying david shuster for mike viqueira has just signed up for plan x. this is their deductible, their premium, the tax credit that he or she is eligible for. they send it to the insurance company. the big problem, the insurance companies are not getting this data. it is potentially a an enormous problem. we're in crunch time. if you want to have insurance under the strictures of the affordable care act, only bear by january 1st when it kicks in you have to enroll by that point. they say they can get 50,000 people at an at any given pointt they've got a long way to go over the concerns that we're talking about. >> mike viqueira, at the white house. as always we appreciate it. the connecticut health insurance exchange has been one of the more successful state

exchanges. they have enrolled 20,000 people since tarting october 1st. they've had to rely on healthcare.gov to rely on eligibilities, but that could be changing soon. officer of the connecticut health insurance exchange also known as access health. the inner relationship between healthcare.gov and your site, explain what that is. >> well, our main deal is when we get information from our consumers, we send it to the federal data services hup. rereally don't go to the website, we go to the federal data services hub. remote identity proofing, make sure what they're saying for salaries or gross income matches what the irs has, we've been doing that since the first of october, and it has been working pretty well. >> that part is working well. is there any other part that

cause you you to say, wait a minute. we want oh minimize the interaction the feds have on this. >> we're fortunate to working to develop our contingency plans like we always planned to come up with secondary sources for the data that we're now getting off to the federal data services hub. that's something that we've been working on since last september. finally we have time to work on it. >> peter, connecticut has done a pretty good job like other states in terms of building up your website. what do you make of the problems that the administration has had and the states who don't have their own sites, and what have you done to say things are going much better. >> i hate to tell you, but i really haven't been paying a lot of attention to what the feds are doing. we're kind of busy right here in connecticut serving our own consumers. and i haven't been tracking what the feds have been doing. i've been looking at what we've been doing and how we can get better. we're going to keep focusing on

that. >> what is the challenge for consumers in connecticut navigating the site to get through. what has been the bottleneck or function that made you realize, hey, we need more work? >> technological we haven't had many issues. what is critical for us is educating the consumer about how healthcare works, how health insurance works, and how the tax credits work. because that's what makes somebody a knowledgeable consumer. that's what we want. that's what we need when people come on down site. >> that depends on advertising, promotions and getting people to go to the site in the first place. are the numbers on the connecticut site what you thought would be? >> they are, but what is past is past. we did fine the last couple of months, but we're looking for december to get us up over 60,000 members if we can. because at the end of the year, before the january 1st time frame. so yeah, what's past is hopefu

hopefully prologued for us. but december is going to be very busy. >> what is the information that consumers should have on hand when they go to the connecticut website and where do consumers run into trouble with just their own information? >> gee, that's a great question. understanding about your family make up, when i say that, social security numbers, birth dates. going back and understanding what you made in the last couple of years so you can estimate what you're going to make going forward so the tax credits can be computed. but also take the time to get on our website. take a look at what insurance is, how it works, deductibles, coinsurance. that's going to make you more knowledgeable, and give you a good perception so that you can understand how you're investing your money as opposed to just spending it. >> great advice. the coo of the connecticut health insurance exchange.

peter, congratulations on your efforts. thanks for coming on our program. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> coming up, investors are saying so long to the buy and hold strategy in their 401ks they're treating their accounts like short-term traders. >> we will look at the pros and cons as "real money" continues right here.

power of the people until we restore our free

>> what is coming up tonight? >> we're looking at rights of kids online. california just passed a law that gives those under 18 the ability to delete their online in indiscretions. and it's setting the tone for other states. >> it sounds like a great idea. how come everyone does not have a delete button here are some tweet questions as well. >> lisa, that is the stream up next right after "real money." >> beware of the next financial bubble. that's the message from robert schiller, one of three winners of this year's nobel prize for economics. the research and asset price bubbles schiller has said he's concerned about drastically

rising prices in markets like brazil. he said i'm most worried about the boom in the u.s. stock market because the economy is still weak and vulnerable. schiller said he's not sounding the alarm yet but avoids financials and technology. many americans do their investing exclusive italy through mutual funds and retirement plans and some of them are increasingly worried that 401s will not carry them through retirement. some are moving through funds in rand out like a trader buys and sells stocks. this is getting a thumbs up from some investors but a thumbs down from financial investors who guide money. >> she figures she'd need 4 million to have a financially

secure retirement. >> top of my list, china, new zealand, africa, antarctica, i want to be able to go freely and not pinch pennies. >> sandy who does not believe social security will be around has been saving money for nearly 20 years. even though she paid close attention to the markets and actively managed the fund she realized the rate her money was going she wouldn't have enough for her golden years. >> i'm not going to save $4 million out of what i don't spend on food and shelter. it's not going to happen. it has to blow. >> in search of moss growth sandy found the service called horizon. gives clients customized molly trading advice for retirement plans. she has been following since 2008. it starts by looking at people like sandy on an individual basis. clients must figure out what their retirement looks like and how much it costs. the strategy get to that magic

number as quickly as possible versus traditional long-term strategies. to get you there they look at choices available in your 401k and gives you trades to execute every five weeks. they tell investors to by pass funds that charge if you don't hold them for more than five weeks. according to the algorithm based on the funds performance over the past two years, stock funds have the highest ratings. a risky portfolio compared to what financial planners called strategy. 30% in stocks. 30% in bond, 10% in cash. when investors reach their retirement target, they park the funds in a safe investment. >> i want to provide income forever if possible, and you can do that by growing your accounts large enough and putting them in to guaranteed vehicles that will pay you essentially an interest everything that you would have been getting from your salary.

>> campus which charges $600 a year is not the only player in this space. active 401k will give you monthly trading suggestions for $120 a year. easy tracker suggests monthly trades for $85 a year. 401k maximizer does the same for $100 a year. unlike campus the lower cost companies offer general trading portfolios and it's up to you to pick a strategy. critics point out these companies and their trading advice is not regulated, and they're not heldcalible for what they say and do. financial advisers question this practice, saying moving in and out of investments that are yeah created for the long term, are making them your enemy, not your friend. >> you're forcing me to sell the position. >> the retirement planning industry is fighting hard to defend that position.

van good has asked 401k maximizer to stop writing about its funds after discovering that a group of pilots were using the trading recommendations. >> if i make a purchase and i buy something today i think this company has tremendous potential over the next three years, yet i have to worry about investors selling it in a month, how can i make any investments? >> sandy is concerned about investments that meet her specific needs. >> this fund manager's job is to create funds that are going to be useful for someone who is 22 and just joining the term or 65 and about to retire. they're not looking at sandy. >> a woman who has a clear vision of what she wants her life to look like in retirement and how much money she'll need to get there. stacey tisdale, al jazeera, new york. >> what is your magic number? you will need to save 11 times

your financial work salary if you plan to retire at age 65 and maintain the same standard of living. don't forget our question for today, what item are you waiting to purchase until you find a better deal? tell us what you think about tweeting us at ali velshi and follow us at al jazeera money or leave us a comment on facebook page. pope francis laid out his first manifesto since becoming head of the catholic church, and it's not going well on wal wall stre. he attacked it as unjust and tyranny. and he also said such an economy kills. jp morgan chase james glass man with a response. he points out the average global living standard is at a record high. glassman argues that the market is doing more to cure global poverty than any ever effort in history.

the pope and the financiers are talking past each other, however this is a great discussion for all of us to have. we shouldn't define something solely on its dollar value or only about the poor. ours is to find a balance. and we are a better society when we think and evaluate these issues. hats off to pope francis and jp morgan, they have grabbed our attention and inspired the public discourse we should have more often. that's our show for today. the internet has changed the rules for car dealers. we'll show you how a 40-year-old veteran of the car business is keeping his business on track. i'm david shuster. thanks for joining. >> the woman behind atlantic magazine's most read piece ever. why women still can't have it all. >> consider this, 10:00 eastern,

on al jazeera america. [♪ music ] >> hi, i'm lisa fletcher, and you are in "the stream" . would you take a digital do over if you could? soon kids around california will be able to erase their online indiscretions. what about the rest of us? ♪ >> our digital producer wag is here to bring in your questions and comments live throughout the show. if you could hit digital delete on your digital path. >> my entire pubertiy from 1993 to now. but some how it got